Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said, all of the agricultural colleges are full. Teagasc management has repeatedly approached me seeking more staff for the colleges to meet the growing numbers on a month-by-month basis.

We need to restructure the beef market. The Deputies are correct that beef farmers are in a position of weakness when they negotiate with very large processors. They go with a trailer load of cattle and are price takers, which is wrong. That is why we are introducing a new policy - I hope Deputies opposite will contribute to the ongoing public consultation on it - which will see producer organisations representing large numbers of farmers as a collective. It is about having a professional negotiator to engage on their behalf on price, specification, age, species, markets and so on. This type of system works effectively in other parts of Europe. We want to see groups of 3,000, 5,000 or 7,000 beef farmers having collective access to a professional body which will negotiate on their behalf to ensure they achieve the best deal possible in terms of a premium price for the products they are producing. That is the type of structural market change we need, as opposed to a vague idea about a regulator without clarity as to what it would actually do, or some notion of changing prices without having any way of doing so. The way to improve the negotiating position for primary producers of food is by improving their bargaining capacity with processors and retailers. We will do this effectively through producer organisations.

We are also improving the information flow to farmers. For example, we have launched a Beef PriceWatch online tool which enables farmers to see what each factory is paying for different grades of animals right across the country. This will help to address the allegations regarding cartels and other issues that are understandably causing farmers considerable concern. Making accurate, up-to-date beef price data available to farmers will ensure there is transparency around these issues.

Fianna Fáil Deputies claim the beef forum has been a talking shop. In fact, it has been quite the opposite. After only two meetings, we already have a detailed report from Mr. Michael Dowling who is the author, as the Deputies know, of the beef section in Fianna Fáil's Food Harvest 2020 strategy. He has written an update of that strategy for the beef forum, which we are working to implement. If the Deputies actually knew what was happening at the forum, they would know about this.

We have also seen increased funding to Bord Bia which is spending €3.5 million in marketing Irish beef strategically in the markets we need to target, including Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and parts of the United Kingdom. Conveniently, however, the Deputies made no reference to this.

In terms of supports for the beef industry, this year we will spend more than €40 million on direct supports for the suckler beef sector, €23 million on the beef genomics scheme, €10 million on a beef data programme which is linked with the genomic scheme, €5 million on beef discussion groups and some €2 million as a residue from the suckler cow welfare scheme. Let us not forget that when we took office, suckler beef farmers were getting €40 per cow under that scheme. The Government has doubled the payment, as per our commitment under the rural development programme.

Deputy Michael Moynihan claimed that the suckler herd was disappearing before our eyes. The data show that 776,500 cows calved this year in the suckler herd, 1.5% less than last year. The year 2013 saw the highest ever price for beef in Ireland, being 15% up on what was being given two years earlier. For anybody under the impression that in the past three or four years there was strong pricing in beef markets, that is not the case. This year prices are down some 11%, on average, from last year's all-time high. That is not to say the situation is good; it is not good. Many beef farmers have lost money this year and are operating within very tight margins. However, it is simply not true to claim they are seeking in large numbers to get out of beef production. When one considers the prices being paid for store cattle in Irish marts this year which are as high as, if not higher than, last year when factory prices were at their highest ever level, it does not suggest to me that this is a sector about to collapse.

Let us not get into predicting doom. We must try to fix problems and increase the negotiating capacity of farmers.

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